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Juan Patron: A Fallen Star in the Days of Billy the Kid

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Written by Paul L. Tsompanas

Juan Patrón lived through one of the bloodiest chapters of the American West: the 1878 feud known as the Lincoln County War in New Mexico. Reputed for his heroics, Patrón tried to tame a frontier plagued with violence, illiteracy and greed–first as a teacher, then as a desperado hunter, and eventually as speaker of the territorial house at age twenty-five, the youngest person to hold this position in New Mexico in history. With keen, well-researched detail and the skill of a master storyteller, author Paul Tsompanas leads us through Patrón’s life and times–and his fate at the hands of a Texas cowboy named Michael Maney, who outdrew him in a dramatic showdown. Many believe that, had he lived, Patrón would have become New Mexico’s first congressman when it entered the Union in 1912.

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Meet the Author

Paul L. Tsompanas returned to writing after a long career as a senior congressional staff member. Before entering the world of politics, he spent ten years as an award-winning reporter for California and New Mexico newspapers. Through the years, he has contributed articles to various regional and national magazines. He and his wife, Mary Ann, live in Colonial Beach, Virginia, seventy miles south of Washington, D.C. For more about Paul and his book, visit his webpage at www.paultsompanas.com.

Press Kit

Details

Format: Paperback, E-book

Pages: 216

ISBN (PB): 978-0-9849588-8-7

ISBN (e-book): 978-0-9859358-9-4

Release Date: July 4, 2012

Endorsements

“The author gives us a long-overdue account of Juan Patrón’s astonishing political career and rounds it out with an impeccably detailed presentation—undoubtedly the fullest ever written—of the mysterious manner of his death…This recognition of his achievements and premature death is long overdue, and I commend both it and its author to you.”

—Frederick Nolan, author of The West of Billy the Kid

 

“A biography of Juan B. Patrón has long been awaited by students of New Mexico’s inglorious Lincoln County War.  Paul L.Tsompanas provides us a very readable account of his rise from a minor county official to Speaker of the House in Santa Fe and to his violent death at age thirty-two.”

—Marc Simmons, New Mexico historian and author of books on the Southwest

 

“Paul Tsompans takes the reader on a remarkable journey through the life of Juan Patrón in the New Mexico Territory, one of the last frontiers of the American West, where guns rather than law still settled disputes.  While Patrón’s life and times are the threads that weave a tale of violence and tragedy, the roles of other lesser figures like the notorious Billy the Kid will compel the reader to keep turning the pages of this extraordinary book.”

—G. William Whitehurst, author and history professor, Old Dominion University

 

“This book gives us a very refreshing account of the most over-reported war on American soil.  Free from the traditional Anglo myopia bias, the reader finally gets a fair account from the Hispanic perspective.  And fair it is.  We see a fine native son as a real leader—warts and all— measured against his exact opposite, Billy the Kid.  This is good writing and good history.

—Jim Bradshaw, retired archivist, Haley Memorial Library, Midland, Texas

 

“An excellent addition to anyone’s Billy the Kid library.  Well done!

—Bob Boze Bell, artist, humorist and editor of True West Magazine

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